bi·og·ra·phy

[bahy-og-ruh-fee, bee-]
noun, plural bi·og·ra·phies.
1.
a written account of another person's life: the biography of Byron by Marchand.
2.
an account in biographical form of an organization, society, theater, animal, etc.
3.
such writings collectively.
4.
the writing of biography as an occupation or field of endeavor.

Origin:
1675–85; < Greek biographía. See bio-, -graphy

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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00:10
Biography is always a great word to know.
So is doohickey. Does it mean:
a gadget; dingus; thingumbob.
an arrangement of five objects, as trees, in a square or rectangle, one at each corner and one in the middle.
Collins
World English Dictionary
biography (baɪˈɒɡrəfɪ) [Click for IPA pronunciation guide]
 
n , pl -phies
1.  an account of a person's life by another
2.  such accounts collectively
 
bi'ographer
 
n
 
biographical
 
adj
 
bio'graphic
 
adj
 
bio'graphically
 
adv

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History

biography
1680s, probably from L. biographia, from Gk. bio- "life" (see bio-) + graphia "record, account," from graphein "to write." Biographia was not in classical Gk. (bios alone was the word for it), though it is attested in later Gk. from c.500. Biographer is recorded from 1715; biographical from 1738.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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American Heritage
Cultural Dictionary

biography definition


The story of someone's life. The Life of Samuel Johnson, by James Boswell, and Abraham Lincoln, by Carl Sandburg, are two noted biographies. The story of the writer's own life is an autobiography.

The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Example sentences
It is not a straight biography, nor is it an entirely fictionalized account.
Only a few important facts from his crowded biography can be given here.
This biography details Rolston's life and his philosophy of the value of nature.
Her book is not a biography, nor does it aspire to be.
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